Ask young activists about the Biden administration\u2019s efforts to address the climate, and they\u2019re quick to point out the problem isn\u2019t close to being solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite historic climate moves put in motion by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which hit its first anniversary last week, many in the critical voting bloc of young Americans want to see the Biden-Harris administration rein in fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not enough now for the Democratic Party to wipe their hands and say, \u2018IRA solved it all.\u2019 We\u2019re still in a crisis. This is still an emergency,\u201d Michele Weindling, electoral director at the youth-led progressive environmental advocacy group Sunrise Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Biden marked one year since \u201ctaking the most aggressive action ever on climate energy \u2014 ever\u201d with the wide-ranging climate and infrastructure bill. By 2030, the IRA is projected to help triple wind power, increase solar power eightfold, and shift the nation\u2019s electric power grid to 81 percent clean energy, Biden touted to applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cImagine the impact on climate and the air we breathe. The law is going to help meet all of my bold climate goals by cutting carbon pollution in half by 2030,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weindling said her movement sees the IRA as a historic step that delivered \u201can insane amount of climate investment,\u201d but contended that \u201cthe reality is, the IRA isn\u2019t enough for young people\u201d in the face of escalating environmental concerns, like the onslaught of extreme weather this summer alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Biden lauds the IRA among his administration\u2019s environmental achievements on the 2024 campaign trail \u2014 along with rejoining the Paris Agreement, his new national monument designations and the establishment of the new White House Office of Environmental Justice \u2014 young activists are re-upping concerns about the administration\u2019s moves to open more land to oil drilling, and stressing that the White House can\u2019t rest with the IRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI frankly think that it\u2019s absurd that while \u2026 the Biden administration is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, it is going unacknowledged that the administration has not done enough to address fossil fuel supply,\u201d Zanagee Artis, a founding member and executive director of the youth-led climate group Zero Hour said last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Biden administration controversially approved the Willow Project, an oil drilling operation, in Alaska earlier this year, and pushed forward the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. The administration also OK\u2019d a Trump-era decision to let Alaska LNG to export liquified natural gas to countries with which the U.S. doesn\u2019t have a free trade agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve done a lot of great work on electrification and the build out of renewable energy. But we think that commitment to environmental justice and the phase-out of fossil fuel production is sorely lacking,\u201d Artis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Zero Hour and the Sunrise Movement are among the youth activist groups calling for Biden to declare a climate emergency, which experts say would give the president more power to act on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president earlier this month said in an interview with the Weather Channel that he\u2019s \u201cin practice\u201d declared a climate emergency, though the White House has not formally done so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked recently about the label, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden \u201chas called it an emergency since day one\u201d and is taking the crisis \u201cvery seriously.\u201d She also noted that Biden declared climate \u201cas a basis for emergency action\u201d under the Defense Production Act to set aside funds for bolstering the electric grid and other initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treating climate change as an emergency is \u201ca completely different thing\u201d than declaring one, Artis said. He also warned against \u201cyouth-washing\u201d the issue \u2014 which he described as inviting young people to be part of outreach and the celebration of the IRA, but ignoring youth calls to stop the Willow Project or oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The climate is consistently a top issue for the young voter demographic of Americans ages 18 to 29 \u2014 who helped Biden to victory in 2020, turned out significantly for Democrats in the midterms and will likely be key for Biden and his fellow Democrats in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate change was a \u201chugely motivating\u201d issue for young voters when Biden won in 2020, said Ashley Aylward, a research manager at the public opinion research firm HIT Strategies \u2014 adding that she\u2019s optimistic the matter will be just as mobilizing in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Aylward said young voters, are not fully recognizing what the White House has accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYoung voters just aren\u2019t realizing that Biden is delivering on the promises that young voters wanted him to deliver on,\u201d she said. But when given more information and details about Biden\u2019s work, young voters\u2019 approval of his record goes up \u201ca lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The campaign will also need to acknowledge the work still left to do, Aylward said, \u201cbecause for young voters it\u2019s still not \u2014 it\u2019s never enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Biden campaign has said it\u2019s working to \u201cmeet younger Americans where they are\u201d and underscored its commitment to issues that matter to them, including climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Biden-Harris reelection bid scored the first joint endorsement from four major environmental organizations early in the campaign: the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, the Sierra Club, NextGen PAC and the Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NextGen America President Cristina Tzintz\u00fan Ramirez said her group is gearing up to reach millions of young Americans and share what\u2019s in the IRA, how it impacts their lives and why they need to keep voting come 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe climate crisis will not be solved with one piece of legislation. We have to have an entire overhaul and we have to elect the candidates that are most likely to deliver on where we need to move forward and continue to make progress. And that is clearly Biden-Harris,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n